For the shortest month of the year, February is full of important causes and concerns to remember. From Black history to cancer prevention research, to random acts of kindness, to social justice, the heart, which is yet another cause of the month, seems central.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and impacts both men and women and most racial and ethnic groups as the leading cause of death.
While everyone is different and heart disease symptoms can manifest in women differently than men, there are some key risk factors that cause concern for us all, including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and smoking. Additional risk factors and lifestyle choices include diabetes, overweight and obesity, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol consumption.
The remarkable thing about the human body is that if you decide to take control of your heart health, not only will you feel better but, in some cases, you can even reverse damage that your body has endured.
According to the Center for Disease Control, eating heart-healthy foods, monitoring cholesterol and taking recommended medications to control high LDL levels, monitoring high blood pressure and exercising regularly, all may slow or even reverse damage that is leading to heart disease.
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The most remarkable evidence to me is from studies related to smoking or vaping. According to the American Heart Association, as soon as you quit your blood circulation increases, your blood pressure and heart rate quickly improve, and the carbon monoxide and oxygen levels in your blood soon return to normal.
Within a few days of quitting, your breathing becomes easier and your senses of smell and taste improve. After two weeks, circulation and lung function improve, and after three to six years, your risk of coronary heart disease is reduced by 50 percent.
As someone who has high LDL levels controlled by medications, it feels empowering to me to know that I have some control over my heart health. I can eat a heart-healthy diet and take the medicine my doctor has prescribed. I can exercise regularly and avoid the choices that I know will be detrimental to my health. I might even be able to reverse some of the damage my high LDL levels created.
There is a growing body of research that suggests our heart health is also dependent upon factors related to emotional and mental health through biological pathways, and indirectly through risky health behaviors.
According to the CDC, “People experiencing depression, anxiety, stress, and even PTSD over a long period of time may experience certain physiologic effects on the body, such as increased cardiac reactivity (e.g., increased heart rate and blood pressure), reduced blood flow to the heart, and heightened levels of cortisol. Over time, these physiologic effects can lead to calcium buildup in the arteries, metabolic disease, and heart disease.”
Additionally, persons living with a mental health condition may have fewer healthy coping mechanisms from which to choose and may resort to risky behaviors that are known to increase the chance of heart disease, such as smoking, excessive alcohol, self-medicating, and inactivity. The American Heart Association suggest that physicians as well as the public need to be more aware of the head-heart connection in patient care.
As we continue to live in a stressful environment with all the changes being introduced in our country at the federal level, it seems probable that the current mental health crisis in America might become more widespread. It also seems that those of us who are able need to be proactive in caring for our own mental health and that of those around us, more aware of the head-heart connection of remembering that we all belong to each other, and that helping others not only helps them but also helps us.
On the National Alliance on Mental Illness website, blogger and longtime volunteer Trish Lockard writes: “I’ve come to understand that volunteering itself can be an act of self-care,” a maxim I heartily endorse.
I think of the many ways we have to volunteer in our community, and a few of the many heroes who bring these opportunities to us. My dear friend, Sharon Gray, has since 2006 organized the annual Apalachicola National Forest Clean Up from 8 a.m.-noon the last Saturday of February.
Through the years she has had as many as 197 volunteers show up on a given Saturday morning to clean the forest and afterwards enjoy a community lunch on her lawn, all volunteer-driven. During those clean ups from 2006-2024, a total of 241.63 tons of trash was removed from the Leon County portion of the Apalachicola National Forest.
This last Saturday of February is no exception, and those who attend will feel renewed and empowered by their participation in this effort. You can see more about how to participate at forestcleanup.org.
This year, on the last Saturday afternoon of February, friends and neighbors are joining together to offer a benefit concert for Lizz Bass. Lizz is a local wife, mother of four, and farmer who learned only months after giving birth to triplets last May that she had a rare form of cancer, Synovial Sarcoma.
She has been remarkably brave in fighting for her life and she, along with her family and friends, are so grateful to all who have volunteered to help her through this benefit to raise the funds needed for travel, medical expenses, and childcare as she journeys toward healing.
With thanks to the Bradley’s for hosting the event at “The Retreat at Bradley’s Pond,” you can learn more about this event being held from noon-5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, and how you can participate at fightlikelizz.org.
Last week, a group of people in our community who have for several years supported the work of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in resettling legally-documented refugees in our area, met to discuss how we can be most supportive of those the agency serves.
In the face of uncertainties created by executive order regarding the funding of resettlement agencies across the nation, this local group, the “Refugee Connection Committee,” is being proactive in considering what we can encourage our community to do to help.
So far, we do know that providing rental assistance for refugee families through a designated gift to IRC, earmarked “Emergency Housing Funds,” will be used to help our local families. Individuals, groups, and faith communities are encouraged to give generously by following this link irc.donordrive.com.
These are but a few of the ways in which we can be involved in helping others and in so doing help ourselves. The heart is at the center of most all the causes and concerns we have addressed during the month of February.
We can better keep our hearts strong by being intentional about self-care and exercising love of others. It might even help us reverse any damage done by the stress and concern we all have been experiencing in these uncertain times. It is my prayer for us all.
The Rev. Candace McKibben is an ordained minister and pastor of Tallahassee Fellowship.
